The beaches have been closed for quite awhile, but we have been going down to the beach for a few minutes almost every day to throw a stick in the ocean for Isabela and look at the waves. There has been abysmal surf, which is a good thing, seeing that is nobody is allowed to surf right now because of the pandemic.

Today we were greeted with a beach littered with tiny baby lobsters. Most of them were still alive. The tide brought them in and left them stranded.

He’s no bigger than the palm of my hand. But when I put him in my hand, his tiny front pincers got me and I squealed and dropped him. I was more startled than anything, but it didn’t feel that good either.

In the 9+ years we’ve lived here we have not witnessed this, so it was interesting. We started tossing them back into the water, which in some cases was fruitless. The waves just brought them right back and deposited them out of reach of the next incoming wave.

Greg said we should have a bucket and then we could gather them and put them in a tide pool or some deeper water. Bingo! I was wearing my cap.

We walked over to the palapa on the end of the beach and then Greg walked onto the rocks where it looked better for getting them back in. There were others stranded in the rocks already too.

That accomplished, we continued on our walk to the next little beach.

At the next stop we found the same thing on the beach. We collected another hatful and released them too.

Mostly our knowledge of lobsters is minimal. We knew that lobsters live in and around rocky places in the ocean and they make a tasty meal.

Once home I decided to investigate the reproduction of the lobster. The internet is a good place to go of course.

“How lobsters reproduce is an arduous journey that takes as long as 20 months from mating to hatching. During much of that time a female lobster carries her eggs around on her underside, protecting and nourishing them.

When a female is ready to molt and mate, she selects the bachelor she wants to mate with, usually the largest guy around, by releasing a pheromone – a chemical linked to sexual attraction – in front of his den.

The fact that she releases it in her urine sounds gross, but apparently it works for lobsters. He responds by leaving his den for a brief bout of confrontation that somehow turns to compliance. As described by Dr. Jellie Atema of the Marine Biological Laboratory, she signals her readiness to mate by raising her claws and placing them on his head.” https://poseidonsweb.com/lobsters-reproduce/

According to the website, I learned that the female only mates after she has molted. The male takes her into his den and protects her as she molts, and once that has happened she receives the sperm from the male. Accepting the sperm doesn’t  mean she has eggs yet though. 

She carries that sperm around in her sperm holding place and when she has eggs, she pushes “10,000 to 20,000 eggs out of her ovaries, passing them through the sperm receptacle for fertilization. They’re passed along her abdomen, where a sticky substance glues them to the bottom of her tail.” https://poseidonsweb.com/lobsters-reproduce/

She hangs on to these eggs for a long time (go to the website if you want to know more).

I suppose finding about 100 baby lobsters on the beach doesn’t account for much seeing that they can have up to 20,000 eggs.

But I got some kind of happiness attempting to get them back in the ocean. This day has started out well. Hope you’re having a good day too.

At the ripe old age of 73, I have made a life-long dream a reality. I’ve written and illustrated a children’s book. It’s for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. Because it is a print-on-demand it is going to take 2-3 weeks for the purchase to reach you, but if you are a prime member with Amazon, the shipping is free.

Thank you in advance for supporting this endeavor. I couldn’t be more excited.

When we walk in the hills we are awarded such natural wonders.

Going up into the Sierra de La Laguna mountains is always fun. You never know what you’re going to see.

It’s always fascinating how much pink there is in ocean as reflected from the sunrise clouds.

Hope you enjoyed the little escape into the sights of Baja California Sur.

Ocotillos produce clusters of bright red flowers at their stem tips, which explain the plant’s name. Ocotillo means “little torch” in Spanish. Plants bloom once in the spring from March through June depending on latitude then sporadically in response to rainfall during the summer. Hummingbirds pollinate the flowers.

These plants are quite strange looking with these flowers growing on the tips of what looks like sticks.

It is fascinating to learn about all the desert plants. I keep noticing more and more as we venture out, and it’s nice to be able to refer to our Baja California Plant Field Guide.

The ocotillo is a shrub that has no main trunk and it can grow to 20 feet. I don’t usually think of shrubs as being so tall.

Each flower usually has more than 10 stamens which probably makes the hummingbirds happy. At least satisfied.

I got this hummingbird image from Google images. https://www.britannica.com/plant/ocotillo

The flowers can be eaten raw or you can do like the indigenous people did and make a tea by soaking both the flowers and the seeds in water.

During a drought burros will break the spines of the branches with their hooves to get to the edible inner bark.

You can even grow a living fence if you plant branch cuttings that will take root once you stick them into the ground. The gray spines will deter visitors I would think.

When we woke up this morning we couldn’t see anything. Not the house next door or across the street. Not the ocean or the hills. Nothing. Just socked in. Spring here is like that a lot. It’s a lot like San Diego in that it is overcast till noon and then it clears up. Temps are in the high 60s and low 70s.

Today I told Greg I wanted to avoid lots of hills. It is impossible to avoid all of them, unless you walk on the beach. Beaches are closed. So we took the path of least hills and it was lovely.

Like I said, the beaches are closed. I took some photos of the lonely Playa Los Cerritos where ordinarily you find lots of surfing and hanging out going on. Our friend, Juan (Paisa) is the volunteer lifeguard and he gives surf lessons. He’s usually busy. All quiet now. He and his wife and son are such good people. Here they are during better times.

Couldn’t avoid a hill going home. I don’t know why I was feeling so anti-hill-climbing today, but that’s the way it goes.

Here’s more from up high overlooking the neighborhood.

Time to get home for breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I would love to eat a meal that someone else cooks. Here’s to a happy day today, as we learn more about how to navigate life during a pandemic. Stay safe. Be gentle with yourself.

I spread my wings to catch the updraft. Soaring higher at this vantage point I spy fish who seem to be waiting for me to pluck them from their watery world. I swoop lower now and with one smooth pass that tasty prize is mine. Throwing my head back I swallow. 

This happy day brings a bounty of surprises. 

What is it like to be me? 

I feel the wind on my face as I float to my next stop. You probably feel a little jealous, don’t you? You wish you could fly; fly with the help of your wings and go up as high as the mountain on the horizon. 

Like I do.

Never give up. It can all be yours if you practice the right moves. Open up. Feel the power of the cool breeze as it lifts you. The aerodynamics might seem tricky at first, but if I can do it, so can you.

I’m never lonely flying above the earth looking down at all the commotion that I cannot hear. It’s a little chilly up here sometimes, but that’s what feathers are for. I have a nice down coat to keep me warm as I fly higher, gliding on the ethers going above the clouds.  Free. Alone. Thinking only of my heartbeat and the sound of my breath, I make my way to wherever I want to go. 

Once more I spread my wings to catch the draft of air that helps me reach the highest tree on the mountain top. 

From my perch the view is long and wide. In the life of my design there are no limits. 

I feel your skepticism because you believe in limits. You are proud to be a realist. For you, things are the way they are.

Not for me though. For you see I am a modern day Don Quixote. 

I am a dreamer. 

And nothing gets in the way of a dreamer. Because for a dreamer there are no limits. Ever. 

Fifty years ago (I was 23 and living in Ocean Beach, CA) was the first Earth Day. Such a great gift to Earth. We finally started thinking about doing things in an earth friendly way, working to clean up and stop polluting. I am reminded that it was Nixon who created the EPA and signed a (bipartisan) Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.

With the way things have gone with the current president (I refuse to use that a**hole’s name), we have gone backward. He says climate change is a hoax.

According to the news, on the eve of this year’s anniversary, POTUS directed his administration to work on a financial aid plan for the oil and gas industry, which has been hit hard by global shutdowns to address the pandemic.

WHAT? The oil and gas industry? Are you kidding me?

However, on the bright side, it looks like the pandemic is helping our Mother Earth. Have you seen all the glorious photos all around the globe showing less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff? It’s amazing; at least for the moment.

We have our proof, folks.

Maybe when we can get back to a more normal way of living we will keep things in proper perspective. Let’s try. Let Earth win.

Every morning we take our dog, isabela, on a walk. Usually we go across the street to the beach, but lately we have been venturing into the hills. It’s peaceful in the morning, and as we walk, pumping our legs up the hills, getting our heart rates up, and listening to the sounds of the birds and the ocean in the background, there is a peace that comes over us.

The pandemic has changed everyone’s lives, and some of it is teaching us about ourselves and putting things into perspective. But some of it is just difficult. Taking a walk and being in the moment is healthy for us.

We have it so easy compared to most people. Our lives are not that different except that we are finding ourselves even more engaged with our community’s response to the pandemic. Mask making, donating more money to the food bank and to people who are providing cleaning supplies to those in need. And believe me, there are many in need here.

Today we focused on enjoying the morning with our dog. It seemed enough.

Cardon Bloom

The ocean has such an allure.

When the waves crash onto the rocks and send the spray up, it thrills me. I may be easy to please.

We previously have not gone to this little beach, but tried it out yesterday and today. Such fun.

Walking home and seeing the house from the back side is so different now that the studio and the wall are there.

And if the walk wasn’t enough, we get home to these beauties.

Success for “Viva La Tortuga!”

Jayna, the teacher for the Bridge to English Class, placed the books on the tables and as the students began filtering in, they gravitated to the books. They were obviously engaged and excited. The energy in the room was palpable.

It was gratifying to see the books I had purchased for them being enjoyed. Their facial expressions and excited voices were like a paycheck for me. As a former middle and high school English teacher and elementary teacher, my heart was bursting with happiness watching them consume the books.

Soon it was time to get their attention and start the lesson. Jayna did a terrific job of imparting the main ideas and using the information I’d gathered for this purpose. Her enthusiasm was part of the reason I was over the moon with happiness about the lesson. She had a great lesson plan and delivered it with ease. The students were so excited and engaged. What teacher wouldn’t have been pleased?

Teach the kids to love the ocean and its animals, especially my favorite sea creature, the tortuga, and you will have a group of adults who protect the ocean environment and pass along their knowledge and love for it to their own children someday.

The medusa (jellyfish) is a favorite food of the sea turtle. They mistake plastic bags in the ocean for the jellyfish and consume them to their demise. Upon their death, there are no sea creatures examined that don’t have a lot of plastic in their stomachs. Micro plastics are some of the worst. Let’s do something about this. Together we can clean up the oceans.

The little girl in green above (Mayra) got up and came to me with a big hug. She said, “Thank you, Susan.” Oh my! My heart melted. How sweet.

The coloring books are a great opportunity to get the students involved. I put them together as bilingual, as these children are learning English poco a poco (little by little), thanks to The Palapa Learning Center in Todos Santos.

I made a set of different educational books for the older kids and they will be using them in their classes soon. I can’t wait. Jayna and I talked about having the older kids work with the younger ones too. If you can teach about a subject, it means you understand and learned it yourself. What better way to practice your skills and share your knowledge?

I brought the olive ridley sea turtle carapace that I had found on the beach about a year ago. Each child took turns touching and examining it. They were excited to have it placed on their own backs and pretend they were a sea turtle. Their little necks fit the spot where the turtle head would have been.

While it was sad that someone had slaughtered the turtle and left the shell (carapace) on the beach, I was able to use it for a good cause. When the students were labeling the parts of the turtle in English and Spanish from the coloring book, I walked around and let them see close up the scutes on the carapace, making it more meaningful and most likely memorable for them.

At the end of the fun-packed lesson, each student was allowed to take their book home. An added bonus: the colored pencils too. Their eyes got so big with delight when they learned they got to take those things home. “Share them with your family,” Jayna told them. I hope they do.